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Home | Review Minutes | A: Our Inner West 2036 | B: Community Strategic Plan | C: Vision Statement | D: 5 Strategic Directions | E: Key Community Challenges 

Mon 23 Aug 2021							Recipient: 613IRTa1
REF: AAEMHNc1		IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST			Y/R: BMIN-2-21-11734

Warren McCANN							E: 
Chair								M:
Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal			P:{61}(3)
s1, Ground Floor, 1 Treasury Place MELBOURNE 3000		W:

	CONSENT FOR SUBMISSION TO BE PUBLISHED ON YOUR WEB-SITE

Thank you for your email (copy below) requesting confirmation that our submission to your 
Consultation paper for responses to the "Determination of allowances payable to Mayors,
Deputy Mayor and Councillors" can be published on your web-site

However we would prefer that it is published as an On-line version not an On-line PDF file

We have endeavoured to explain the differences about On-line versions as follows:

A	Link to On-line PDF files

	Here is a link to the Letter dated 16 Aug 2021 that was emailed with the Submission

B	This link is to a simple text On-line Version of the two documents 

C	This link is to an On-line Version with links to all the supporting documentation

D	This link is to multiple web-pages that promote local business and tourism sites

One of the web-pages is the Management Summary which provides links to local tourism 
sites that allow people to make on-line bookings for fishing trips and cruises

This location happens to be in the New Zealand "Bay of Islands" with a local map for people 
to visit in the area

Hence by placing any committee minutes On-line not as PDF files enables any Community
 to have a value by promoting for local businesses or community event

Yours sincerely 


Peter AXTENS LLB (Retired)				Stephen GOULD
Chair							Public Officer
SUSTAINABILITY ACTION NETWORK [SAN] 

B: PO Box 517 Neutral Bay Junction 2089		
E: ehn.1a3posgg@gmail.com
M: {61}(4)4827-8153
W: www.oic.org/SAN



Local Government (DPC)			Fri, Aug 20, 2:55 PM (3 days ago)		 
 	
Good afternoon
 
Thank you for your email regarding the Determination of allowances payable to Mayors, 
Deputy Mayor and Councillors. 
 
As you may be aware the Tribunal has a policy of publishing submissions received on its 
website, unless the submitter seeks confidentiality or the submission contains information 
that is identified as commercially sensitive. In this instance, the submission will be 
published in a form that protects confidentiality or commercial sensitivity.
 
Submissions that contain offensive or defamatory comments, or which are outside the 
scope of the Determination will not be published.
 
We would be grateful if you could confirm by 5pm on Monday 23 August 2021 that you 
consent to your submission being published on the website.
 
If you did not intend that your email be considered as a formal submission or prefer 
publishing in a de-identified form we would appreciate you informing us prior to 5pm on 
Monday 23 August 2021.
 
Further information regarding this Determination is available on the Tribunal website.
 
 
Regards,

Submission to: "The Victorian Local Government Proposed Determination of 
allowances for Mayors, Deputy Mayors and Councillors"

		Index

A	Reviewing the Submission Brief

B	Organisation making this Submission

C	Management Summary

	a	Councillors have Waste Management, Climate Change and COVID-19 issues

	b	Understanding COVID-19 long term costs

	c	Many organisations not just Councils have long term COVID-19 costs

	d	Utilising new technologies to monitor and record offsets

D	Response to Brief Consultation Questions

 
A	REVIEWING THE SUBMISSION BRIEF: 

"The Ministerial Statement on local government articulates the Government's future priorities 
for the  local government sector, including the critical role of councils in Victoria's pathway 
through social and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Tribunal may wish to consider whether the priorities identified in this statement should 
be taken into account in determining councillor allowances.?

Consultation questions 

Without limiting the matters persons or bodies may wish to raise in a submission, the Tribunal is 
particularly interested in receiving submissions on the following questions. 

Roles of Council members 

What are the most important duties and responsibilities of Mayors, Deputy Mayors and Councillors? 

How have the roles and responsibilities of Council members changed since the last review of 
Councillor allowances in 2008? 

What future challenges may emerge? 

How are Council member roles affected by a Council's electoral structure (for example, ward 
structure or ratio of Council members to population)? 

Purpose of allowances 

What is, or should be, the purpose of allowances for Council members? 

Allowance category factors 

What factors should be considered when allocating Councils to allowance categories? 

Is the existing system, in which Councils are allocated to categories based on population and 
revenue, appropriate? 

Adequacy of allowances 

Are current allowance values adequate, for example to: 

- attract suitable candidates to stand for Council?
- reflect the costs (e.g. time commitment) and benefits of Council service?
- support diversity amongst Council members and potential candidates? 

Superannuation 

How, if at all, should superannuation be considered in determining allowance values? 

Comparators 

The Tribunal is required to consider allowances for persons elected to 'voluntary part-time 
community bodies' when making the Determination. 

Which bodies should the Tribunal consider, and why? 

The Tribunal is also required to consider similar allowances for elected members of local 
government bodies in other States. 

Which States are particularly relevant (or not) for this purpose, and why? 

Financial impacts 

What are the financial impacts of varying allowance values for Council members?

B	ORGANISATION MAKING SUBMISSION

This submission is made by Members of the Sustainability Action Network [SAN] of the 
Open Interchange Consortium [OIC] 

The OIC was formed in 1994 by members including Ourworld Global Network [OGN],  
Commonwealth Bank, AIDC and the Halisa International Network [HIN] , dedicated to assisting 
Large , Medium and Small Enterprises through regular monthly meetings, specific Interest 
Groups such as the XML Special Interest Group [XZIG]  and On-line project tenders to 
understand and benefit from Electronic Information Technologies [EIT]

In 1997 foundation members developed an XML application called "Electronic Association 
Information Management [EAIM]" which included Electronic Committee Information 
Management [ECIM] with the Special Interest Groups utilising ECIM

One of those Special Interest Groups was the Local Government Interest Group [LZIG]

In 2000 OIC members worked together to submit a response to a 9 Council Syndicate for an 
Application Integration Project which included eBusiness and the Internet

In 2001 the Federal Government Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and 
Small Business [DEWRSB] joined the OIC to commission a joint-venture to promote an 
understanding of XML to 172 NSW Local Government Agencies

In 2006/7 OIC members worked with Mosman Council on understanding Sustainability 
issues and formed the Sustainability Action Network [SAN] 

As a result of this understanding of Local Government applications SAN members submitted 
a number of On-line responses to local Government initiatives including:

1	the North Sydney Council "Community Engagement Strategy [CES]"

2	the Inner West Council Draft "Climate & Renewables Strategy"

C	MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

	a  Councillors have Waste Management, Climate Change and COVID-19 issues
	b  Understanding COVID-19 long-term costs
	c  Many Community organisations not just Councils have long term COVID-19 costs
	d  Utilising new technologies to monitor and record offsets

a  Councillors have Waste Management, Climate Change and as well as COVID-19 issues

Councils have a number of challenges over the next 10 years which few have appeared to 
identify properly in their published 10-year plans on their web-sites 

These Challenges include stimulating new community work initiatives for local economies.
managing waste more effectively for Climate Change Greenhouse Gases reduction policies, 
providing more effective rate-payer value and encouraging higher qualified candidates to run 
for Council positions

This submission tries to address these issues by proposing that the Role of a Councillor 
becomes a Ward Resource Co-ordinator who encourages Street Co-ordinators to Participate 
in the local democracy by managing local volunteer resources and waste far more effectively 
and creating a local economy credits system that can be spent in local shops

b	Understanding COVID-19 long-term costs

There are many aspects of long term COVID-19 costs that are difficult to quantify

Whilst the newspapers have tried to quantify costs eg Article 12 Oct 2020 "The COVID-19 
Pandemic and the US$ 16 Trillion Virus"

"The SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pandemic is the 
greatest threat to prosperity and well-being the US has encountered since the Great 
Depression. 

This Viewpoint aggregates mortality, morbidity, mental health conditions, and direct 
economic losses to estimate the total cost of the pandemic in the US on the optimistic 
assumption that it will be substantially contained by the fall of 2021. 

These costs far exceed those associated with conventional recessions and the Iraq War, 
and are similar to those associated with global climate change. 

However, increased investment in testing and contact tracing could have economic benefits 
that are at least 30 times greater than the estimated costs of the investment in these 
approaches.

Since the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in March, 60 million claims have 
been filed for unemployment insurance. 

Before COVID-19, the greatest number of weekly new unemployment insurance claims 
(based on data from 1967 on) was 695?000 in the week of October 2, 1982. 

For 20 weeks beginning in late March 2020, new unemployment claims exceeded 1 million 
per week; as of September 20, new claims have been just below that amount………...

The above article is about the United States of America and the same issues apply to every 
Country throughout the World

According to the Guardian Newspaper 11 May 2021 "The 2021 Federal Budget reveals huge 
cost of Au$311 Billion cost of COVID to the Australian Economy"

However the major cost was for Economic stimulus packages like "Jobkeeper" and 
"Jobseeker" and does not include the Economic costs of State Government lockdowns and 
the costs of establishing on-going testing locations

Hence Councils have to set the example for the rest of the Community to follow as to 
how to offset COVID-19 costs, manage waste more effectively and progress as 
Community networks

c	Many Community organisations not just Councils have long-term COVID-19 costs

There is a plethora of community networks which will have long-term COVID-19 cost 
including Business Associations, Chambers of Commerce, sports clubs, body corporates, 
RSLs, school meetings as well as Councils and different Council committees 

Just in the last Olympics in Tokyo 2021 there were over 339 different medal events and this 
does not include various other sports and pastimes which have regular meetings

All of these organisations could benefit if committee meetings both physical and On-line 
could be recorded as that Community Asset

d	Utilising new technologies to monitor and record offsets

Most Communities that have meeting record the Minutes these days produce them on PCs 
or terminals 

It is now a simple process to put those minutes On-line so that the members can review the 
minutes 

All Sports Communities, Council Communities and Councils in Australia also have extensive 
Volunteering at regular Committee meetings whereby the minutes record the attendees, 
preparation of reports and actual time spent by Volunteers at these committee meetings

These Committee activities should be included as an Asset in the Economic Value of that 
Community

Indeed with repeated COVID-19 outbreaks, many of these meetings could be performed On-
line or by Zoom meetings hence should be included as Economic Contributions 

This issue of the Economic Value of participation in On-line Committees was recognised by 
the foundation members of the Open Interchange Consortium [OIC] at the inaugural AGM 
minutes and members' mandates in 1996

Following that AGM OIC members developed a number of On-line services including 
Electronic Committee Information Management [ECIM]

ECIM was based on research carried out with Hampton School Rugby Old Boys, South 
Sydney Council, South Sydney Chamber of Commerce and a joint-venture with the British 
Standards Institute [BSI] which printed and posted out over 1,000,000 pieces of paper 
annually to members of over 350 national and international committees

The research by OIC members into ECIM included hourly Accreditation credits for Electronic 
Committee Participation as used by Electronic Business [eBXML] Australia 2000-2002 for 
telephone conference meetings around Australia and Hong Kong

NZ COUNCILS HAVE ELECTED COUNCILLORS & COMMUNITY BOARDS

	A	NZ Councils elected Community Boards
	B	North Sydney Council 26 Precinct system espoused by Mayor Ted MACK
	C	Volunteer Participation as Community Assets

A	NZ COUNCILS ELECTED COMMUNITY BOARDS

Further to our emails about the Australian research on the Economic Value of 
Volunteers for each state on 15 Jun 2021 and valued in 2013 at $ 25 Billion per 
annum in email 14 July 2021 you may be interested in reviewing how New Zealand 
Councils have elected Community Boards many chaired by elected Councillors

NZ Example 1: Whakatane Council 

1 elected Mayor,10 elected Councillors with 20 elected members for 6 Community
Boards providing multiple committee meetings each month

And these are the On-line committee meeting dates 

July 2021 - 7 committee meetings

Jun 2021 - 8 Committee Meetings

May 2021 - 9 Committee Meetings

Unfortunately all the agendas and minutes of meeting are On-line PDF files that 
have to be downloaded to be read. - none of the minutes are documents that can be 
read On-line by other interested members of those Communities

Compare those On-line PDF minutes with the On-line minutes of an Electronic 
Business [ebXML] Australia meeting nearly 20 years ago on 05 Feb 2002 of the 
Marketing Strategy Work Group chaired by Mark BEZZINA Director of 
Communications, IT and eCommerce at Standards Australia - his changes to the 
draft minutes are included in blue ink !

This is a link to the members and their attendance records of Electronic Business 
[ebXML] Australia which could be used by every Council/Sports Club/Body 
Corporate Committee to show On-line attendance with COVID-19 travel restrictions

For some reason Standards Aus cancelled all other scheduled 2002 ebXML 
Meetings after that 05 Feb 2002 meeting !

NZ Example 2: Selwyn District Council

Another example is Selwyn District Council which has 1 mayor and 12 Councillors 
and over 70 listed Committees with regular meetings and PDF minutes

NZ Example 3: Christchurch City Council

Christchurch City Council has 15 councillors with 7 Community Boards comprising 
52 elected Volunteer members

B	North Sydney Council 26 Precinct system espoused by Mayor Ted MACK

In 1974 Ted MACK was elected as initially as an Alderman and then as Mayor from 
1980-1988 on North Sydney Council and espoused the principles of "Participatory 
Democracy" whereby "Citizens have a right to participate in local precinct issues"

Ted established 26 Precincts in the North Sydney Local Government Area and now 
this Precinct system is under review possibly because North Sydney Volunteers are 
no longer fulfilling all the roles necessary to maintain the value of the Precincts.

As the reports on the "Economic Value of Volunteering" to the 5 State Governments
by Dr Duncan IRONMONGER indicate that a Volunteer hour is now valued at over 
$ 35.00/hr, recent COVID-19 large-scale community shutdowns dictate we must use 
technology to record Volunteer participation as a Community Asset rather than leave 
Communities in perpetual debt under current accounting processes

C	VOLUNTEER PARTICIPATION AS COMMUNITY ASSETS

All Sports Communities, Council Communities and Councils in Australia also have 
extensive Volunteering at regular Committee meetings whereby the minutes record 
the attendees, preparation of reports and actual time spent by Volunteers at these 
committee meetings

These Committee activities should be included as an Asset in the Economic Value of 
that Community

Indeed with repeated COVID-19 outbreaks, many of these meetings may be 
performed On-line or by Zoom meetings hence should be included as Economic 
Contributions 

This issue of the Economic Value of participation in On-line Committees was 
recognised by the foundation members of the Open Interchange Consortium [OIC] at 
the inaugural AGM minutes and members' mandates in 1996

Following that AGM OIC members developed a number of On-line services 
including Electronic Committee Information Management [ECIM]

ECIM was based on research carried out with Hampton School Rugby Old Boys, 
South Sydney Council, South Sydney Chamber of Commerce and a joint-venture 
with the British Standards Institute [BSI] which printed and posted out over 1,000,000
pieces of paper annually to members of over 350 national and international 
committees

The research by OIC members into ECIM included hourly Accreditation credits for 
Electronic Committee Participation which was used by Electronic Business [eBXML]
Australia 2000-2002 for telephone conference meetings around Australia and Hong Kong

D	RESPONSE TO BRIEF CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

a	Roles of Council members

a1q	What are the most important duties and responsibilities of Mayors, Deputy Mayors and 
Councillors? 

a1a	: Encouraging the local Community to participate in Council discussion making with the 
Councillors chairing various Committees whereby the Committee Minutes and reports can be 
reviewed On-line form home computers and NOT AS PDF FILES THAT HAVE TO BE DOWNLOADED

a2q	How have the roles and responsibilities of Council members changed since the last review of 
Councillor allowances in 2008? 

a2a	The Roles and Responsibilities of Council members have changed dramatically since 2008 in 
that Councils have implemented far more sophisticated Information systems with most Councils 
providing Councils minutes On-line mainly as PDF files

In addition many Councils are encouraging their local communities to participate as Volunteers in a 
number of spheres as Councils become more "Entrepreneurial" re the 1993 Inventing
the Australian Model of Government"

a3q What future challenges may emerge? 

a3a The key issues for many future challenges are how to cope with further COVID-19 issues and maintain 
financial credibility with rate-payers

Judging by the number of Councillor payments schemes implemented by local councils in New 
Zealand eg Auckland Council and Tauranga Council as well as Western Australia Councils then 
Council rate-payers should be reviewing their local Council websites

a4q How are Council member roles affected by a Council's electoral structure (for example, 
ward structure or ratio of Council members to population)? 

a4a Councillors should be responsible for set areas each with the similar numbers of council 
rate-payers

b	Purpose of allowances 

b1q What is, or should be, the purpose of allowances for Council members? 

b1q The Council is a business and the Councillors should have Key Performance Indicators [KPIs] 
which include Waste Management, Climate Change and Community Well-being KPIs

c	Allowance category factors

c1q What factors should be considered when allocating Councils to allowance categories? 

c1a Allowance categories should include Waste Management, Climate Change improvements and local 
Community Participation Credits

c2q Is the existing system, in which Councils are allocated to categories based on population and 
revenue, appropriate? 

c2a It needs to be enlarged to include Waste Management, Climate Change improvements and local 
Community Participation Credits

d	Adequacy of allowances 

d1q Are current allowance values adequate, for example to: 

	- attract suitable candidates to stand for Council?

	- reflect the costs (e.g. time commitment) and benefits of Council service?

	- support diversity amongst Council members and potential candidates? 

d1a No because they do not include any Key Performance Indicators [KPI] and hence probably do not
attract the best candidates 

e	Superannuation 

e1q How, if at all, should superannuation be considered in determining allowance values? 

e1a As we understand it according to this web-site, Victorian Councillors do receive the 
Superannuation Guarantee

"Superannuation Guarantee

Mayoral and councillor allowances are also subject to the addition of the equivalent of the 
superannuation guarantee (9.5%). 

Note that this percentage is scheduled to increase to 10.0% from 1 July 2021.

e2q How, if at all, should superannuation be considered in determining allowance values? 

e2a

f	Comparators 

The Tribunal is required to consider allowances for persons elected to 'voluntary part-time 
community bodies' when making the Determination. 

f1q Which bodies should the Tribunal consider, and why? 

f1a Any Community Body that is prepared to implement and On-line Electronic Committee Information 
Management system so that local community members can review the minutes On-line

The Tribunal is also required to consider similar allowances for elected members of local 
government bodies in other States. 

f2q Which States are particularly relevant (or not) for this purpose, and why? 

f2a All Australian and New Zealand local government bodies because people should be able to travel
regularly to these location 

g	Financial impacts 

g1q What are the financial impacts of varying allowance values for Council members?

g1a Judging by the remuneration allowances already granted to New Zealand and Western Australian 
Councillors, they have added considerable cost for local rate-payers without any way of judging how 
effective the Councillors are in managing the key community issues for other rate-payers 




LEGEND

EDI	Electronic Data Interchange
SME	Small and Medium size Enterprises
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC]
XML	Extensible Mark-up Language



I	Other Inner West Council Documents that are part of the CSP2036

	a	Strategies
	b	Plans
	c	Statements
	r	Research References

a	Strategies

Is1 Resourcing Strategy [ReS] 2018-2028 Adopted Jun 2018- PDF File		
Is2 Climate + Renewables Strategy [CRS] - draft On-line		
Is3 Employment and Retail Lands Strategy [EaRLS] - PDF File		
Is4 Housing Strategy [HS] - PDF File
Is5 Integrated Transport Strategy [ITS] Adopted 03 Mar 2020 - PDF File
Is6 Asset Management Strategy [AMS]2018-28 Adopted Jun 2018 - PDF File		
Is7 Workforce Management Strategy [WMS] 2018-22 Adopted Jun 2018 - PDF File		
Is8 Information and Communication Technology [ICT] Strategy 2018-2022 Adopted Jun 2018 - PDF File

b	Plans

Ip1 Community Strategic Plan [CSP] 2036 Endorsed Jun 2019 - On-line
Ip2 Economic Strategic Development Plan [EDSP] draft - On-line
Ip3 Long Term Financial Plan 2019-2029 Adopted Jun 2019 - PDF File

c	Statements

It1 Local Planning Statement [LPS]		

r	References

R6 2019-01-19 Adelaide Advertiser: Compensation paid to Slave Owners 1835 - 2015 (180 yrs)

R5 2003-2014 Value of Volunteers to Australian State Economies

R4 2014-11-07 IBM "Blockchain" solution for the Diamond Industry Video

R3 1997 Lessons from a Dozen Years of Group Support Systems Research - 4,000 IBM projects

R2 Sir Evelyn de Rothschild - Director De Beers 1977-1994 & IBM UK 1972-1995

R1 1987-04-23 RUBAC Automatic eProcess Synchronisation Video

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